Trailer Critic: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Ben Stiller is, as Tad Friend pointed out in The New Yorker last year, “the only actor with three billion-dollar franchises” (Night at the Museum, Madagascar,and Meet the Parents). He’s most known for those movies and for playful rom-coms like There’sSomething about Maryand slapstick like Dodgeball. So you might not have guessed that for the past couple of years he’s spent much of his time developing and directing The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, an absurdist romp that will be released this Christmas, and which clearly has Oscar-sized ambitions.

TheNew Yorker profile largely painted Stiller as an auteur-in-waiting, an artist too long confined to antic physical comedy. And to be fair, Stiller can be a bold and audacious director: Reality Bitesis an incisive Gen-X manifesto that holds up surprisingly well; Zoolanderand Tropic Thunderhaveboth become comic touchstones. The trailer also showcases Stiller’s talent for composition—the film looks beautiful, and the carefully framed and often panoramic shots are reminiscent of his buddy Wes Anderson’s work.

Stiller has said that Mitty is a golden opportunity to redefine his place in the popular imagination. It’s true: The film features all the usual big-budget bells-and-whistles, but with the narrative thrust and experimental touch that usually capture critical acclaim. It looks a bit like feel-good Oscar-bait, and could well devolve into heavy-handed melodrama, à la Incredibly Loud and Extremely Close.But consider this sap on the hook.